
First photo is publicity photo provided by Cole Hatcher and accompanied with this caption:
Ohio Wesleyan University will present āThe Merchant of Veniceā from Oct. 9-12. The cast features students Luke Steffen (left) as Antonio, Maeve Nash as Portia, Gabe Caldwell as Shylock, and Luke Scaros as Bassanio. (Photo by Chris MacDonald)
Photo on the top right: Director Elane Denny-Todd talks to sophomore Reggie Hemphill.
Photo on the middle left: The empty stage
Photos on the middle middle and middle right: (left to right) Freshman Charlie Lennon, junior Luke Steffen, and junior Christian Sanford rehearse a scene together.
Photos on the bottom left and right: Junior Luke Steffens and senior Luke Scaros rehearse a scene together.
Photo on bottom middle: Senior Luke Scaros rehearses as Bassanio.
Shakespeareās āThe Merchant of Veniceā is a tale of loyalty, love, greed, and justice, and is being brought to life by OWUās theatre and dance department Oct. 9-12.
āAs the theatre and dance department is a pre-professional department, we try on a regular basis to include Shakespeare in our main season productions,ā said director and professor of performance Elane Denny-Todd. āOur students enjoy working with the language and our audiences always enjoy our performances.ā
Denny-Todd said āThe Merchant of Veniceā is one of her favorite Shakespeare plays because of its characters and complexity.
Sophomore Gabe Caldwell is one of the more than fifty students on the productionās cast and crew. He portrays Shylock, a Jewish moneylender in Venice.
āHeās very vengeful, but thereās a human side to him thatās hurt,ā Caldwell said.
He said his biggest challenge has been figuring out āwhat makes Shylock tickā because the dialogue is āstaticā but how it is delivered must be āfluid.ā
āThe amount of passion in the dialogue and how complex he is, especially considering his motivations, is exciting,ā Caldwell said.
Denny-Todd said from time to time OWUās productions, including āThe Merchant of Veniceā must run on an extended weekend instead of two weekends because of calendar issues, like the placement of mid-semester break and Thanksgiving break.
āOur biggest difficulty was that our rehearsal period was so short because of the calendar,ā Denny-Todd said.Ā āHowever, everyone in the cast and crew has worked extremely hard to make this production happen.ā
Junior Margot Reed is the productionās stage manager, professor D. Glen Vanderbilt Jr. is creating the set and lighting, and part-time costume shop manager Jacqueline Shelley is making the costumes.
āThe Merchant of Veniceā performances are at 8 p.m. Oct. 9-11 and at 2 p.m. Oct. 12 in the Chappelear Drama Center.
Tickets are $10 for general admission, $5 for faculty and staff, and free for OWU students with a valid ID. To reserve tickets, contact the theatre office at 740-368-3855.